Apparatus and method for treating animal skins



1937 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 L.. J. sTRolslNo APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR TREATING ANIML SKINS Filer; buly 21,

Nov. 21, 1939.

Nov. 21, 1939. 1 .1. sTRoBlNo 2.180,562

APPARATUS AND MTHOD FOR TREATING ANIMAL SKINS 4 Filed July 21,

1937 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Nov. 21, 1939 APPARATUSAND METHQD-FOR'TRATING p ANIMAL .SKINSl e Louis Strobino, BethelfCojnn. j v Application July 21, massaal-N0, 154,785

` `6 Claims' (C1. zij-150) This invention relates to improvements in apparatus and method for treating animal skins.

More particularly it relates to the treating of de-haired and tanned skins, by applying dyes, dopes or other liquids to a surfaceof the skin while the skin is held stationary.

areav of 'I surface considerable quantities 'Ihe invention has particular utility for dyeing animal skins and for otherwise treatingthem, as by 'applying the various so-called dopes`which are well known in industry. The skins maybe goat, kid, sheep, lamb, calf, pig, deer, etc., which may be utilized in the manufacture of gloves, shoes, bags, coats and other articles fashioned from leather.

Heretofore, so far as I am aware, the industrial applying of dyes and dopes to animal skins has been an operation of high cost skilled labor. The skin has had to be carefully spread and smoothed by hand on a stationary table. The dye or dope is poured on the skin and is then spread by hand, l

usually with a hand brush or swab, over the surface which is undergoing treatment. In the haste to spread the liquid quickly overY the. full iof the liquid are wasted, by being wiped off the edge, onto table or floor." Also it frequently happens `that too large a quantity of the dye or other liquidv isideposited on the skin surface. The excess cannot be recovered conveniently, and usually is wiped off and lost.

Objects of the invention are, to Aeliminate prac- 'tically all `waste of dye or dope in the process of treating animal skins; to reduce materially the labor and manual effort involved in the process; to reduce the requirements as to skill of the operator; to provide for the applying and distributing of the dye or dope `with assured uniformity to whatever area of skin is `at the moment undergoing treatment,'and to accomplish a treating of the whole surface area of a skin by a few simple shiftings. p

:The applicator is a moving table which traverses the surface of the skin and which itself has a threefdimensionally curved surface, adapted to fit approximatelythe natural`three-dimen-- sional curvatures in which the skins grew in; the animals, thus to facilitate andl to promote uni.- jformity of treatment. It petually travelling bulging table.

vIt is, moreover, an important feature that the supply of dye or other liquid to the applicator may be controlled and regulated by the operator.

'I'hese objects and results are attained by employing a relating applicator in the form of a thusconstitutes a perdrum havingabulging working'surfa'cefof plush',

preferably somewhaty of barrel shape', in which the curvatures of jsurface i; approximate the curvatures that are `inherent in or were natural to the skins which Vvare to` undergo treatment. Preferably'av supply of dye or dope .-is. available for yfeed to the applicator,`,bysprayinggor'by gravity at a controlled rate; andthe druml ymay be rotated `at a speed just short of what would result in throw-off of` the dye `or-othery rliquid thus supplied. A skin may be spread, onfsuch a drum, be pressed against'the travelling applicator surface thereof, and meanwhile be held against being carried aroundl on the drum,l thus receiving a brush treatment ffromjfthe.v plush carrying the dye. After one area of the skin has been thus subjected to treatment; the skin may lbe shifted to bring'another area intotcontact with lthe applicator', until the entire surface of the skin has been treated.l

It is intended that the patent shallcover; by suitable expression in-f the appended .claims, .whatever features 4of patentable novelty` exist v'in the invention disclosed. 1' Inthe accompanying drawings;` j I Figure 1 is a front elevationpof a-'de'vice 'embodying features of the invention; Figure 2 is an end elevation, looking from the -leftinFigure 1; .f

Figure 3 is a top planofthe device ofV Figures 1 and 2, with a portion of the-plush broken; away vto show the stave constructionof they' drum; Figure 4 is an end elevation in` sectionon 4-4 4fof Figurey 1; and Y Figure 5 is a planof a fragment,insection,on 5-,5 of Figure 2. n x

Referring to thedrawings, the `clrurn I0 :is rotatably mounted'on journals I2 in the bearings I4' on a frame havinglegs I6 which Vhold vthe journals so as to be at about what would be fthe mid-height of an operator standing on'therloon lThere may be a drive pulley I1 lXedat one of the journals I2 for belt drive, or the drummay be rotated injany other suitable way.y stationary housing for the druml preferably will be in two sections, I8 and I9, hinged together at'the rear, at 22, at aboutmid-height ofthe drum. The housing section I8, bolted at I5v0n the frame rIt may be of sheet metal, extending backward to said hinge and thence up over, the .rear part of the drum, and extending forward'from its .bolts l5 to where it has a plate breast 0ry apron- 2I at,v

`the front of the machine about'at or a littleabove mid-height of the drum. 4The housing section I9, hinged on section I8 Iat122j, atthe,1"ear,l exf tends down underthe drum and up in front into slightly overlapping relation to the apron 2|. Wing head locking pins 24 are illustrated extending through the overlapping portions to hold section I9 in its illustrated position, as a fastening device which can be removed to facilitate a complete interior cleaning.

The housing section I9, beneath the drum, provides a collecting trough for dye or dope which may have been thrown from the drum, or which may have fallen therefrom or from the spray nozzles 20. It may be released and swung away from the drum on the hinge 22. Liquid may be drawn off from this under section through the drain valve 24 and `thence conveyed either by a pump or gravity to a collection tank for immediate re-use or for reconditioning.

The apron 2l of section I8V extends across the machine and constitutes a skin-rest against which a part of a skin may lie while another part of thaty skin is on the upper front exposed part of the drum, that part which is on the skin rest being engaged by the operators body for a purpose later to be described. The hood portion of section i8 of the housing has the mouth of a suction conduit 30 connected therewith for drawing away fumes. Also it may be equipped with an electric lamp 32.

'Ihe drum l0 has end walls 34, 34 between which extend the bowed elements 36 in the nature of barrel staves. The staves 35 are set edgewise together all around the drum except that at one location two of the staves yare spaced a little apart as at 38 to receive a double thickness of the applicator sheet material 4D which covers the drum, these staves being removable and replaceable. This sheet material preferably will be of plush such as is used in the leather industry, being a material with a long pile whose fibres are non-absorbent of the dyes and dopes which are to be applied to the drum. The plush may be put on by tacking one end to the under side of one of the spaced-apart staves, and the other end to the under side of the other spacedapart stave, with the body of the sheet covering the entire working surface of the drum. When tacking the ends it may be taken up and drawn smooth and tight on that surface in the shape of the drum curvatures. Ordinarily no further provision for getting smoothness and tightness will be required, but I have shown at 42 in Figures 4 and 5 a slot toward each end of the drum, between two staves, into which any bight of slack may be forced and be secured within the grooves by tacks, if necessary.

A supply of dye, or whatever liquid is to be applied, may be held in a suitable receptacle 44, for pressure feed, or at a suitable height for gravity feed to a spray pipe 46 which extends along the full axial extent of the drum at an outside location, near the drum surface, low down in the housing. A series of spray nozzles 20 on the pipe provide for distribution of the dye on the plush as the drum rotates. And a valve 50 in the supply line may be actuated at the will of the operator to control the supply of dye, by means of a foot pedal 52 and connections 54.

' In use, the drum may have continuous rotary motion in the direction indicated by the arrow in Figure LLand its plush surface will be carrying a quantity of the dye or dope, sprayed thereon by the nozzles 20.

The operator places a skin S on the exposed `top front portion of the drum being careful to have a portion of skin overhanging between his skin thereon; means in body and the housing breast or apron 2l, so that he can press his body against it and so hold the skin againstbeing carried over on the drum. A mechanical gripping or skin-pinching device might be used but the simpler method of body pressure against a skin-rest is sunicient, and yet leaves both hands of the operator available for spreading and pressing the skin into contact with the plush applicator on the drum, so that the dye may be effectively and uniformly applied to the full area of skin thus brought into contact with it. The skin may then be shifted, to bring another area into position for treatment and so on until the entire area of skin has been dyed.

Any double treatment of portions of skin surface, due to the overlapping of shifting positions of the skin on the drum, has no ill effect, and leaves no visible signs of the overlapping of treatments. The skin can take up only a certain amount of the dye; and, having taken that amount in the course of a treatment, it will take no more even though subjected to further treatment.

I claim as my invention: i

l. Apparatus forktreating animal skins, comprising a traveling support which in every direction on its operating surface is convex and has Va Acovering of fibrous material capable'of carrying a treating liquid among its iibres; there being a location where said covering on a top part of the support is exposed to receive a skin, and to receive pressure thereon from a source which is external to the support, covering and front of the support against which a skin may be engaged to hold that skin stationary with a portion of the skin on top of the travelling surface; the said travel of the top being in direction away from the engaging means; and means for supplying a treating liquid to the fibrous material of the support.

2. Apparatus for treating'animal skins, comprising a rotatable drum having a skin-treating surface bulging outward from the axis and having a liquid carrying material covering its saidbulging surface and exposed at the top of the drum for the manual spreading of a skin thereon; said bulging surface being convex in every direction; a skin-holding element fixed in front of the drum and closely adjacent to thev said exposed portion of the liquid-carrying material, a supply pipe 'extending along the liquid-carrying surface of the drum, for supplying a skin-treating liquid thereto; said fixed element being approximately at mid height of a person'for engagement of a portion of the animal skin between it and the body or" the operator, to hold the skin against being carried over on the drum when a portion of skin is spread on the treating surface of the drum.

3. In an apparatus `for treating animal skins, a barrel-shaped drum having a sheet of plush covering its surface; said drum having end walls and a series of staves extending from end wall to end wall in edgewise engagement with each other; two adjoining staves being removable and each having one end of the plush sheet secured to its inner face with the said sheet extending all around the drum; and there being a slot in the drum toward each end into which excess plush is received to provide a smooth plush surface notwithstanding the curvatures incident to the barrel shape.

4. Apparatus-for treating animal skins, comprising a traveling support having an exposed top surface of fibrous material capable of carrying a treating liquid among its bres; means whereby a treating liquid maybe applied to said fibrous material; a hood extending over a portion of the exposed top surface adapted and positioned for the said top surface to travel within the hood; said exposed top surface being vexposed adjacent to the hood to permit the spreading of a skin there, on the top surface, for the treatment; and a conduit leading out of the hood for the withdrawing of air, to permit air which is at the region of exposure to passfreely into the hood.

5. Apparatus for treating animal skins, comprising a rotatable drum having alliquid carrying surface; a casing enclosing the drum at a little distance from the surface thereof and having an opening exposing an upper portion of 'the drum; a skin rest adjacent to said opening for the holding of a skin on the exposed portion of the drum; means for feeding liquid to the drum within the casing; and means for draft of air from within the casing. u

6. A method for treating animal skins with liquid, comprising the spreading, 'shaping and supporting of the skins singly, and stationarily, in single thickness of skin, in a form which is curved relative to each axis in a set of` three axes of rectangular co-ordinates in space; holding the skin stationary in said form; and applying the liquid to and spreading it over the skin while the skin is thus spread, curved and stationary.

LOUIS J. STROBINO. 

